Introduced to the press on June 4, the 2009 Subaru Stella Plug-In is on sale in Japan and deliveries will begin in August. The 2010 Mitsubishi i-MiEV goes into production in July, but it's going directly into use by a government fleet and won't be in the hands of private owners until April 2010.

Now, Subaru is killing its electric car. According to a Japanese newspaper, sales of the Stella could end as early as March. The Subaru Plug-In Stella uses a small 9-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery, driving a 47-kilowatt electric motor. Its range was quoted at roughly 50 miles.

The company says it will suspend work on electric vehicles for up to five years while it waits for the market to mature and public charging infrastructure to be installed.

Subaru's decision may reflect influence from Toyota, which now owns roughly one-fifth of Fuji Heavy Industries, parent company of the carmaker. Toyota is publicly downbeat on the chances for electric cars, reflecting its 15 years of investments in its Hybrid Synergy Drive system for hybrid-electric vehicles.